Over of using Times New Roman? Yeah, me too...

It's never been easier to create and upload your own font to your computer! Thanks to Calligraphr, (previously known as MyScriptFont) you can turn your everyday handwriting into a font! All you'll need is:

Calligraphr is free to use, all you need to do is create an account by connecting your email address - no credit card details required, 100% free! You'll need to have a printer as you'll be filling in a blank font form with your handwriting. You then upload this form by scanning it back onto your computer. This could also be done by scanning using your phone, but I've found that using a real scanner works a bit better. 

Other applications of Calligraphr

Kids of all ages will enjoy creating their own font and using it to write letters on their devices. Another way which I think you could use this resource is to save the fonts of loved ones - parents, grandparents, other family or friends. You can send them the PDF file that they need to print, then once they've filled it out, they can scan it and send it back to you. This might be a bit tricky for some people to do, so they might need a little help from a young digital mind! You could then link it back to the Recipe Book activity from my previous blog by filling in the recipe cards with your grandmother's handwriting, without actually having to make her write each and every recipe out!

How to do it

You can find the full list of instructions on Calligraphr's Tutorial for Creating Your First Font. These are the basic steps to get you started and so you can see if this is something you'd be interested in doing:

1. Create your Calligraphr account by signing up with an email address
2. Download the font template from Calligraphr by going to TEMPLATES and selecting Minimal English and Minimal Numbers. Then just click "Download Template" and you're ready to print. You can add other characters as well, but these two options are a good starting point. If you're anything like me, you'll need to re-do it a couple of times to get it looking how you want it to!
   
3. Print the template and fill in the blank boxes as per the Calligraphr instructions. A felt tip or ink pen tends to work better than a ballpoint pen.
   
4. Scan the filled-in page onto your computer and upload it by going to MY FONTS and clicking Upload Template. Choose your scanned document and click Upload Template. Once the font has uploaded, click "Add characters to your font".
   
5. Once you've uploaded your template, you can then create your font by clicking "Build Font". From there, you'll be able to name your font and finalise it by clicking BUILD. Your font will then appear in a text box and you can test it out by typing some sentences in. A classic way to see every letter is to type in "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog". If you're happy with it, download your font by clicking one of the top two links. According to Buzzfeed: "If you're wondering whether you should download it as an "OTF" file vs. "TTF" file, consider that .otf is a relatively newer format, so more tools work with .ttf font sets."
   
6. To use your font on your computer, you'll need to install it first. This method changes depending on the operating system you're using, so it's best to give it a quick Google search to find your exact instructions. You can then repeat this process to add more fonts, so your whole family can have their own!

I was really excited to see my own handwriting coming up on my computer as a font (even though its not the prettiest thing in the world". This activity isn't just for kids - adults love it too!

Learnings

Students (and adults!) will likely need to do a fair bit of problem solving when doing this activity. Theres a lot of steps and it can be a bit confusing when you're doing it for the first time, so don't worry if it takes you a couple attempts before you get it perfect! Problem solving is a core skill that students can develop from learning at home, and this activity will be a great way to encourage trial and error (or trial and perfect, if they're a computer whizz!)